Dear Laura, I think the answer to your questions is mostly yes. But there is a difference between small filmmaker-based distributors and longtime distributors like Milestone, Kino, Janus, New Yorker, Zeitgeist, Strand, etc. We all know the educational exceptions and respect them. There is also personal license which gives the distributor the right to set the terms and prices if you purchase it directly from the distributor -- mostly before the DVD or BluRay is available for sale publicly. If a library wants to buy COME BACK, AFRICA before release, they have to pay the institutional price. After public release, they can buy either the home video price or institutional price on our own website or elsewhere. (That's one thing I find very funny is that libraries spend extra money to buy it on other sites expecting we'll reject their home purchase -- especially since the orders come to us from those sites. We're happy anytime someone buys our film.)
And for the previous question, I think responding nicely with a set (form) email stating that educational exception allows you to buy a home video and including the law would be the way to go. If they respond further, then you can ignore them. Dennis On Tue, Feb 19, 2013 at 8:43 AM, Laura Jenemann <[email protected]> wrote: > Chris, Judith and list, > > The examples you provided are helping me understand what the larger > issues for librarians may be. > > Below is my attempt to understand the issues that Chris, Judith and Mary > have brought up. > > Am I on the right track, and if not, can you please tweak? > > 1) Distributors may interpret face-to-face instruction differently from > how libraries interpret this. For example: "screening a regular > consumer DVD in a classroom is a violation of copyright law, as stated > by the Warning Screen that appears before the movie." (See > http://johnsaylesblog.com/amigo-dvd-release/) > > 2) Moving image distributors may interpret right of first sale > differently than librarians. For example, Mary's letter that she shared > on the listserv and Judith's email below. > > Implications, concerns: > > Are libraries and librarians in face-to-face instruction scenarios > purchasing copyrights they already have at a cost of thousands of dollars? > > Could libraries and distributors being conflating rights of distributing > and licensing with rights in Sec. 108? > > Is it possible that libraries are unnecessarily giving back their Amazon > documentaries and re-purchasing at higher costs when they receive > letters like Mary's? > > Should libraries respond to distributors different interpretation, or > ignore them? > > If a face-to-face conference session is a better forum for discussion, > I'd be happy to help organize. > > Thank you for any wisdom the list can share with me. > > Regards, > > Laura > Laura Jenemann > Film Studies/Media Services Librarian > Johnson Center Library > George Mason University > > > On 2/18/2013 11:03 AM, Shoaf,Judith P wrote: > > I was doing some research recently into First Sale, and looked at the > > original US Supreme Court case, Bobbs-Merill vs. whatever Macy's was > > then. The publisher had put a label on their books saying they could > > not be sold for less than $1, but Macy's was violating that warning > > label. The court obviously ruled that once Bobbs-Merill had sold the > > books to a retailer they could label them all they wanted but they > > did not control resale terms. > > > > I think of that when I see those Warning Screens on DVDs..... > > > > Judy Shoaf > > > > ________________________________________ From: > > [email protected] > > [[email protected]] on behalf of Chris Lewis > > [[email protected]] > > > > Tangent alert: John Sayles also wrongly asserts that "screening a > > regular consumer DVD in a classroom is a violation of copyright law, > > as stated by the Warning Screen that appears before the movie. " > > Quoted from his "response" at the bottom of his own blog post about > > the release of his film "Amigo": > > http://johnsaylesblog.com/amigo-dvd-release/ > > > > This despite the fact that none of his other films are available > > with anything but home-use rights. VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage > > the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, > > evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use > > of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related > > institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective > > working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of > > communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video > > producers and distributors. > > > > > VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of > issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic > control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in > libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as > an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of > communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video > producers and distributors. > -- Best regards, Dennis Doros Milestone Film & Video/Milliarium Zero PO Box 128 / Harrington Park, NJ 07640 Phone: 201-767-3117 / Fax: 201-767-3035 / Email: [email protected] Visit our main website! www.milestonefilms.com Visit our new websites! www.shirleyclarkefilms.com, www.comebackafrica.com www.ontheboweryfilm.com <http://www.killerofsheep.com/> Support "Milestone Film" on Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/pages/Milestone-Film/22348485426> and Twitter <https://twitter.com/#!/MilestoneFilms>! See the website: Association of Moving Image Archivists<http://www.amianet.org/> and like them on Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/pages/Association-of-Moving-Image-Archivists/86854559717> AMIA 2013 Conference, Richmond, Virginia, November 5-9!<http://www.amianet.org/>
VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
